Cross-Canada ride

Cross-Canada ride

ORILLIA - Tana Silverland wheeled into the parking lot at Orillia’s Highwayman Inn shortly before noon on Tuesday, her face dappled with sweat.
Nearly two years and 12,000 kilometers ago, the British woman hit the road on her three-wheeled, recumbent bike to drum up support for SOS Children’s Villages.
The charitable organization builds homes around the globe where orphans are cared for by SOS families – the homes arranged several to a single site to create a supportive environment.
“It is that whole, ‘it takes a village to raise a child,’” she said shortly before addressing a local meeting of the Orillia Rotary Club.
A native of England, Silverland moved to Canada in June 2010 to set out on a journey that would take her from coast to coast, albeit with an unorthodox route that zigzags across the landscape.
“I literally landed at Whitehorse airport and started pedaling the same day,” she said.
Silverland relies on the kindness of the strangers who welcome her into their homes, providing food and shelter for an otherwise solitary journey that occasionally requires travel by bus or ferry to avoid long stretches in uninhabited areas of the country.
“It has been amazing, the wonderfully kind people it has brought me into contact with, and just the variety of people,” she said. “I literally am a stranger turning up on their doorstep.”
Silverland describes SOS Children’s Villages as, “possibly the largest, oldest, most well-respected charity that Canadians have never heard of.
“Because they spend so much of their money on the children, rather than advertising, I wanted to do this journey to help them get the recognition they deserve,” she added.
To date, she has raised more than $27,000 for the cause, with her journey set to end in Ottawa on Nov. 18 following time on the east coast.
For more information, go to tanasilverland.wordpress.com.